Research Adjacent
Stories and strategies to help you thrive in a research-adjacent career. Hosted by Sarah McLusky.
Episodes
Laura is prioritising collaboration over competition to help develop impactful research projects.
Laura Breen is Research Development and Impact Manager at the University of Manchester where she helps bring together diverse, multi-partner research teams to tackle big challenges.
Sarah and Laura talk about
- Prioritising collaboration over competition and convening creative relational spaces
- Her journey from museums and ceramics ...
Sarah reports from the Festival of Hidden REF held in Birmingham on 8 October 2025. This episode features contributions from organisers, speakers and participants including
- Hidden REF committee members Simon Hettrick and James Baker sharing the story behind the event
- Previous Hidden REF competition winners Laura Henderson and Lorraine van Blerk highlighting hidden roles in research
- Speaker Elisa Collado and participants Emily ...
Johanna is on a mission to create a more fun and kind academia.
Johanna Stadlbauer is Head of the Research Careers Campus at the University of Graz in Austria, offering development and support for early to mid-career researchers.
Sarah and Johanna talk about
- Why she wants to make academia kinder and more ...
This episode is a must listen for anyone who hires freelancers to support research projects or who is a freelancer themselves. It is packed with advice for making things run more smoothly – from contracts to cold-hard cash. We are also launching the Research Adjacent Directory listing service.
Sarah is joined by fellow freelancers from the Research Adjacent Community including Limor Zwi-Da...
Sarah reports from the International Research Culture Conference #IRCC25 which was held at the University of Warwick on 17 September 2025. It features contributions from Rika Nair, Alys Kay and Dolly Coates, as well as excerpts from Sarah's talk on professional development for research enablers.
Sarah and her guests talk about
- Why the recognising the contributio...
Esther Lisk-Carew is engagement coordinator for a programme called AHEAD (Arts and Humanities Engagement and Dialogue) at Manchester Metropolitan University. She is also a freelance consultant, trustee of Manchester's Portico Library and founder of the Black and Global Majority Cultural Creative Network.
Sarah and Esther talk about
- How she combines a love of sto...
Tamika Heiden is the founder and director of impact consultancy Research Impact Academy. Her company works with researchers around the globe and also runs the Research Impact Summit.
Sarah and Tamika talk about
- How her career and business evolved from research to knowledge translation to impact
- The language and practice of impact around th...
Anji Miller is Senior Partner for Academic Engagement at healthcare charity LifeArc. LifeArc help turn great research into real-world healthcare products – from bench to bedside.
Sarah and Anji talk about
- Trusting her instincts, even when others didn't understand her career choice
- Embracing opportunities and making the next best move
Sarah's guest is impact consultant, Chris Pahlow. Based in Melbourne, Australia, Chris runs the consultancy business Amplifying Research and hosts the podcast of the same name.
Sarah and Chris talk about
- Blagging his way into a university teaching position whilst an indie filmmaker
- Why impact is really a...
Louise Jopling is the Chief Scientific and Innovation Officer at the Babraham Research Campus and Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the Babraham Institute.
Sarah and Louise talk about
- Her career journey from immunology research to business leader and mentor
- Why hearing about the real-world impact of health in...
Sarah's guest for this episode is Andy Tattersall. Andy is a communications specialist who embraces using technology to help share research.
Sarah and Andy talk about
- Making himself so useful that a job was created es...
Stephen Britton, Health & Safety Officer (Episode 70)
Sarah's guest for this episode is Stephen Britton. Stephen is currently a Biological Safety Officer at Durham University. Prior to that he spent over 20 years working for the UK Government's Health & Safety Executive.
Laura Evans-Hill, Visual Storyteller (Episode 69)
Sarah's guest for this episode is Laura Evans-Hill. Laura is a visual storyteller and director of research communications agency Nifty-Fox Creative.
Sarah and Laura talk about
...This is a special double episode. First up Sarah meets David Mendes, aka Papa PhD, medical writer/translator and host of the Beyond the Thesis podcast. Then the tables are turned and David interviews Sarah for the Beyond the Thesis podcast.
Sarah and David talk about
It's the Easter holidays in the UK so this is a behind the scenes update with just Sarah.
Sarah talks about
- The recent Challenges miniseries
- Upcomin...
Rosalind Gill is Head of Policy and Engagement at the National Centre for Universities and Businesses (NCUB).
Sarah and Rosalind talk about
- bringing people together to respond to big sector challenges
This episode is about influencing others at work with Joanna Royle and Orla Kelly. Joanna is a Researcher Development Manager at the University of Glasgow. Orla is Scotland's Knowledge Exchange and Innovation Collaboration Manager based at the University of the West of Scotland.
Sarah, Joanna an...
This episode is all about finding and building your community with networking expert Jeni Smith.
Sarah and Jeni talk about
- Why everyone is feeling isolated and craving human connection
This episode is all about navigating change in the research and higher education world. Sarah's guest is Andrew Millar, Head of Web Services at the University of Dundee.
Sarah and Andrew talk about
- Read more
This episode is all about imposter syndrome and how it shows up for research-adjacent professionals. Sarah's guest Jenny Brady is a coach and facilitator who previously featured in episode 16.
Sarah and Jenny talk about
- Read more
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